Lake Copais Three

Lake Copais Three

#lakecopais #ancientgreece #map

Here's a third interpretation of the available data about the Mycenaean canalization of Lake Copais.

Where it says kat. are indications of the places where the lake drains into underground rivers and sinkholes. Well the ones we know about. Strabo writes 9.2.16 of earthquakes blocking some and opening others over the centuries and there may have been an underground river flowing from the NE and rising from the ground to flow a short distance into the sea near Larymna, again according to Strabo.

The goal of the Minyan engineers from Orchomenus may possibly also have been not just to divert flood waters away from their city but to also make it easier to cross the wetlands when the waters was low by using the canals and paths along them as roads or for barges perhaps? Plus silt building up behind the facings of the canals might have increased the available areas for not just grazing cattle and horses but also growing crops.

Bu the ancient works were destroyed allegedly by Heracles during a dispute between Orchomenus and Thebes and the waters and shorelines changed again and yet again and according to Strabo 9.2.17 several settlements had to change their location and move away from the lakes ever shifting shorelines.

This leads us to the mystery of GLA.

Next time
 Just which one of the polises mentioned in Homer's Catalogue of ships was GLA?

Lake Copais TWO

#lakecopais #boeotia #ancientgreece

The Green Area is one of severel interpretations of the evidence for Lake Copais' shorelines during the Helladic / Mycenaean era. I picked this map to share first because it shows the surrounding mountains and rivers flowing out and into the Copaic Basin and plains. If you search the web yourself you will see other maps NOT showing a Se extension towards Thebes or showing more water around GLA in the NE. Please also bear in mind some of that GREEN area was wetlands with beds of reeds and marshy plants. There were also seasonal changes depending on the winter rains and spring runoff.

The reason there are question marks next to some sites is that whole settlements moved often further towards the hills or disappeared over the centuries.

Orchomenus for example was certainly NOT in the lake. I think the mapmaker is trying to indicate the possible location of a settlement / town mentioned by one ancient  historian who stated that it was moved off the plains due to flooding.

The dilemma for early settlers who wanted to use the shorelines for farming and grazing was the constantly shifting shoreline changing vastly after a major flood event and probably shifting every year  as silt was deposited or the eastern sinkholes blocked and cleared and blocked again.

Next time the rise and fall of the Minyans and Orchomenus.


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Lake Copais ONE

#Lake Copais #Boeotia #Ancient Greece

Once upon a time and probably in the future once again Greece had a lot more lakes. I have posted about the Lake at Lerna before.

This is admittedly a VERY simplified map showing Lake Copais after Mycenaean hydro-engineering diverted rivers into canals. However it should work on smaller screens. I will show you some more precise maps in the next post.

The important things to note are the wetlands to the west of the Copaic basin and the settlements ringing the lake especially GLA.

The canals lead to sinkholes which hercules is should to be blocked so the Orchomenian cavalry could not stop the advance of Theban forces.

The wetlands and part of the lands drained by the canals were probably used for pasturing horses and cattle as well as growing crops. 

Judging from various maps I have seen the lake has changed in shape and size several times as earthquakes or human effort blocked or unblocked sinkholes or created drainage tunnels and canals.

The last major project in the 19th century drained the lake completely so its all farmland FOR NOW.

Stay tuned for the next posts in this series !